How Davin's Book Makes Me Feel

I've been reading Davin's new collection of short stories he just put out (The Wild Grass), and although I've read some of these short stories before, I must say that the collection as a whole has struck me as something quite different than what I've experienced in Davin's work before. I had not read the first story, "The Burning Girl," before, and I hope Davin doesn't take offense when I say, "Huh?"

There was something I have missed in that story, and I can't wait to talk to Davin about it. The thing is, I still enjoyed the story. Davin's descriptions and honest portrayal of human emotion and the complexity it shares with connections to the outside world and close cultural experiences are some of my favorite things about his writing. Usually, starting a story of Davin's, he slowly pulls me in, as if I'm on a string led lightly by his hand, and he always leads me somewhere familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. It's uncomfortable most of the time, but fascinating. When I read the end, I'm always left breathless and wanting more. Maybe that was the whole point of "The Burning Girl."

Scott once described Davin as "...bright and crystalline and my chest always feels a certain way, almost like I'm holding my breath, when I read it. Davin is carefully laying out a mosaic, maybe, with the pieces all end-to-end in a well-lit space, every once in a while looking up at me and saying "You get how all the pieces fit together, right?"

I recently read a post from a friend of mine about how we remember people from how they make us feel, not what they said or did or looked like. I think that is very true, and I think writing is the same way. The books I love the most dearly are books that make me feel a certain way. Sometimes I forget what they're about, really, and sometimes I forget who wrote them or what the title is, but I always remember how they make me feel. This is why I return to certain music when I want to get in the mood for specific scenes in my writing, and why on Sundays I listen to religious-themed music to get me in the right emotional place to attend church. There's something about emotions and how things make us feel that affects our thoughts and behavior. For example, whenever I hear Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 (Moonlight Sonata), I invariably feel soft and reflective and vulnerable. Good fiction - solid, well-grounded fiction I can sink my teeth into always leaves me with a feeling similar to eating a healthy, filling meal. I want to sit back, relax, and contemplate the experience over and over. Davin's book that does to me, and it's one I'll pick up off my shelf repeatedly through the years when I want to feel a certain way.

As a whole, the collection is a stunning reminder to pay close attention to the details and people in our lives, even if they are fleeting. Things like a dead rabbit, a missing ring, a dog barking "I love you!" For a moment, when I read Davin's work, I feel like I've finally grasped onto those fleeting things in my own life, and it feels full and satisfactory and victorious.

A Long Slope Called Burn-Out

I feel like I haven't been here forever! The truth is, I've been sliding down a long slope called "burn-out" and I really can't think of much to talk about that hasn't already been said a hundred times before on this blog. So, whether or not it will bore you to tears today, I'm going to talk briefly about a few things - my writing at the center of it all.

I'm published.

Does that make me a good writer?

The funny thing is that I'm SELF-published at the moment, but will be traditionally published as of September 15th of this year. Does it truly make any difference? Does it freaking matter? My conclusion is absolutely not. I wrote a book. That's what matters. In fact, I'm working on my 6th book. It's pretty awesome that I've written that many. Only one I've shelved for good.

After six books, I've finally figured out a system. Or so I think. It takes me on average 7 months to 2 years to write a book, depending on the length and complexity. For the rough draft, it takes me 3 - 5 months.

Do I outline?

You bet I outline. However, it's not what most people would really call an outline. It's more like a really long synopsis, and it's very loose. In fact, my story often cuts away from that synopsis. It always comes back, though, like a wave washing on the shore - finally ending up at that last scene I planned from the beginning.

Do I need feedback?

You bet I do. I have never been able to write a book without letting someone read parts of it as I go along. It seems to be a need, but it also seems to be waning as of late. More and more I only need 1 or 2 people to look things over. I also don't rely on them to give me feedback on prose like I used to - but more on big huge gaping holes I left lying around and somehow couldn't see. I'm kind of blind to those.

Why am I burned out?

Because marketing a book SUCKS THE LIFE OUT OF ME. I'm not kidding. Marketing my novel Monarch has left me feeling like I've been run over by a freaking truck, and despite everything I've done, I don't feel like much of it has been very productive. That's the worst part.

I feel like it's time to take one big huge break. We just got NetFlix and watching a lot of movies sounds nice. Also, I have a huge stack of books I want to read. I have a feeling my future posts are going to be about reading more than writing. After all, that's where my love of writing started.

Don't Listen to Me...Part 8 of Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think

We've reached the end of my self-publishing series. It's filled with a lot of information...some from me and some from other writers with experience in the arena. Although I just self-published my novella and many people have said I did it "right" and "professionally," I'm scared to death someone is going to follow in my footsteps and be extremely disappointed and angry in the end and, consequently, blame me, even if they never say it out loud.

Here are a few things I'd like everyone to remember:

1. I never queried Cinders. I wrote it specifically to self-publish it.

2. I have lots of resources at my fingertips to self-publish...you might not have those same resources and this might cost you (a) more time, (b) more money, (c) more headaches and emotional investment than it cost me. Or it might not. See, you must remember that...

3. The decision to publish in any way is a huge decision and must be made with your eyes wide open and...

4. The decision to publish in any way is an extremely personal decision.

5. I also feel that self-publishing is not the right thing for all of my projects. Why? Well...

6. I currently have a manuscript on submission to a small publisher who did not require an agent for me to send in the work. I hope to hear back from them soon. This would mean that if they offer me a contract, I will be traditionally published. This means that...

7. Obviously, I feel both traditional and self-publishing are valid ways to publish your work and that you must always remember there are other options out there if one option is not working out for you.

8. There are also many different ways to self-publish your work. The route I took may not be the best option for you.

So I guess I'm imploring you to not listen to me too closely when I talk about how absolutely wonderful an experience self-publishing has been for me. I just spoke with a friend of mine who also self-publishes her work, and she shared with me some of the sales she makes every day. My jaw dropped open and my jealousy meter shot sky-high. I thought, "There is no way in a million years I'd make those kind of sales with my work...probably not even with the small publisher I want." Of course, never say never, right? Still, her situation and experiences are completely different from mine.

And yours will be, too.

______________________________

Do You Want to Jump the Fence? - August 26th
The Vase - September 1st
What Going Indie Will Cost You - September 8th
Whither The Author-Artiste? - September 9th 
Influences & Self-Publishing Might Just Stink For You - September 16th
The Absolute Nightmare (or not!) of Formatting a Print Book - September 22nd
Cheaper Than Kinko's - September 23rd
Don't Listen to Me - September 30th

Cheaper Than Kinko's: Part 7 of Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think

Formatting is a scary thing. Even if I had never self-published a book, I would still be using basic formatting skills. Did you know you can get drafts of your novel printed and bound like a real book for cheaper than it would cost you to have it printed at Kinko's? It's true! I've had a manuscript printed there for $30 and my Lulu copy of Monarch only cost me $15 (that includes shipping).

Here's a picture of me with my copy of Monarch. This was one of my final drafts. It was a nice experience to be able to ship this book to some beta readers and to be able to hold it as a real book in my hands as I took a red pen to the pages. I saw things differently that way. But in order to do this, you need to know have some basic formatting skills. Once you have those, you can usually branch out on your own to learn whatever else you need.

Here is my super-simplified step-by-step guide to formatting a manuscript for printing - from the experience I've had, at least!


(1) Choose Your Printer

You have several options in this arena. Here's what I have found out about some printers. If you have more info to share, please do and I'll add it here to the list.

Lulu
Quality - Good
Cover - Fair - the color printing doesn't seem as slick as others I've seen - it's more pixelated
Binding - Good
User-Friendly - Good

CreateSpace
Quality - Good
Cover - Great - the color printing is really nice! I'll talk about some setbacks down below
Binding - Good
User-Friendly - Good

Lightning Source
I don't know! Anyone willing to share some information here? All I know is that you do have to purchase your own ISBNs and have your own publishing name/business even if it's just you

Small Printing Press (this is limited to two books I've seen)
Quality - Excellent, that I've seen
Cover - Excellent
Binding - Excellent
User-Friendly - Don't know

Here are some photos to give you an idea of the quality and issues with your printing options. For all photos, I've uploaded high resolution copies. Click on the picture so see more detail!

This set is Lulu printed books:


This set is CreateSpace books:



This set is small press/publisher books:

Jamie DeBree was kind enough to send pictures of a Lightning Source book:



Doesn't appear to be too much difference, huh? Let's get CLOSER! Here is a close up on the bindings. I personally think the lack of "glue" on the small press books looks SO much nicer. One reason to go that route, but it's more expensive...or you need a small publisher to accept your manuscript.



The one here is from Lightning Source:



Here is the wear-and-tear of the books:



These ones are on Monarch, a Lulu printed book. If you click on the photo to see it larger, you can see the printing quality of the cover as well. The book hasn't fallen apart at all. The bends seem to hold up pretty well.



The cream one below is a Lulu printed book. Notice the raised area where the glue for the binding spilled over to the front and it creates a "bead" underneath the cover. That's not the prettiest thing, and a big drawback, I think, to this type of binding if it's not handled correctly.



This book below is a small press book, Immortalis. It got crunched on my shelf, but it has held up well.



This one below is a CreateSpace book, Cinders. I really hate this flaw...the beautiful glossy cover has a film over it, which is gorgeous until it starts to peel! I've had other readers who own this book tell me they haven't seen this happen on their copies yet, but I handled mine a lot, so I'm sure that's why this happened. Also, I've this happen on commercially published books. It's nothing to do with the printer, but that type of printing.



These shots below are of the printing on the inside. The first one is of Son of Ereubus from Rhemalda Publishing, a small publisher. This is the nicest printing! Nice and crisp, and lovely paper.



This one is Immortalis from a small press. It's white, thick paper, and the printing is nice.



This one below is of Cinders, done through CreateSpace. It's done on their cream paper, and I love it. The printing is nice, as well, and is the same quality as Lulu, although Lulu's cream paper is thinner. The page isn't crooked, sorry. I had a hard time taking the picture and holding the book at the same time!



And here is one of Blood Lust from Lightning Source:



All right. There you have an idea of quality!


(2) Choose Your Formatting Software

I've used QuarkXpress and Word. That's it. I used Quark about 9 years ago, and I loved it, but I don't have it anymore as it was the property of the university I attended. So...being the cheapskate I am, I just use Word for all my formatting. There are pros and cons to this. Katie and Jamie helped a lot in yesterday's post about formatting if you want more information on formatting software.

What I can help you out with today is to tell you these simple guides.

(1) For Word, it's pretty easy to format if you're going to stick with something simple! And, honestly, simple is almost always the best option when it comes to a reader wanting to immerse themselves in a book, not pretty formatting. The only things you have to know how to do are how to set the page size, line spacing, page numbering, and headers and footers. It's not more difficult than that! Any printer you choose to go with will give you guides on the margin spacing you'll need.

(2) Do Google searches. It's not hard! Figure out how to manipulate line spacing and headers, etc. As you can see on my Cinders page up above, I used some wider spacing between the lines and paragraphs. If you can't find help online how to do this, email me. I'll help.

(3) If you need to convert your file to a PDF, I highly suggest using dopdf.com if you don't already have the software. This one is free, easy to use, and doesn't put a stupid watermark over everything.

(4) Word is really, really bad at doing drop caps. If you want to do that, you might be better off using a different program. 


(3) Choose Your Book Size

This can be a tricky one. All these books are 6x9:



I don't necessarily like this size for a novel unless it's a huge, long novel. For my book, Cinders, which is a novella, I went with a smaller size. These CreateSpace books are 5.25 x 8:



You can kind of see the differences in sizes here, but I took the picture at a bad angle, sorry. To really see the difference you have to hold them and open them up.



Also, you are severely limited, unfortunately, by what your printer offers. CreateSpace, nor any other print-on-demand publisher I can find, offers 5 x 7, the trade paperback size you see in grocery stores all the time. They also don't offer the publisher-grade paper, either - that flimsy cream paper you see on mass market paperbacks. Lulu offers this, but only on 2 sizes and they don't let you do an ISBN (so far) with this option, either. I'm not sure if WordClay or Lightning Source offers these? Anyone know?


(4) Format, Send It In, and Sell (or use it to edit)!

This is much easier said than done, but CreateSpace at least offers a formatted file you can download and use, as well as offers a formatted template for your cover so you get the spine width correct. A huge drawback for Lulu is that I've never been able to use their pre-formatted templates. They never work for me...they'll never upload. I don't know what I'm doing wrong there, so I'm stuck using their crappy cover software online and it's severely limiting, especially for the spine.

As far as CreateSpace goes, from my experience, it was a pretty simple process, although a little more time-consuming than Lulu, and I had to wait for a few things to be approved. You are also forced to order and pay for a "Proof Copy" of your book before you can get the book up on Amazon. They print "PROOF" on the last page, too, so you can't even sell it! I DETEST THIS. I wish they'd do away with it. I have already complained to them. If you use CreateSpace, you should complain, too. Hah.

Anyway, this is all very simplified, but it's already 11:20 my time and I need to get this post up! I hope this has been helpful for you! Let me know if you'd like more or different information in this arena.
_____________________

Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think Series

Do You Want to Jump the Fence? - August 26th
The Vase - September 1st
What Going Indie Will Cost You - September 8th
Whither The Author-Artiste? - September 9th 
Influences & Self-Publishing Might Just Stink For You - September 16th
The Absolute Nightmare (or not!) of Formatting a Print Book - September 22nd
Cheaper Than Kinko's - September 23rd 
Don't Listen to Me - September 30th

The Absolute Nightmare (or not!) of Formatting a Print Book: Part 6 of Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think

Some fellow writers of mine have generously shared their knowledge and experience of formatting their books for print and have granted me permission to post their information here. They will, or have already, posted this information on their blogs.

This is a lot of information, I know, but if you are thinking of self-publishing a print version of your book, I recommend you read every word. Next week we will talk about ebook formatting!

Tomorrow I will post my own step-by-step guide to self-publish your print book using CreateSpace.
  

Katie Salidas
book layout

The Book Layout.

A Do-it-yourself self-publishers worst nightmare but a necessary evil.

What is a book layout? The layout is the internal formatting of your book; everything from the Title to About the Author.

Go grab a book off of your nearest bookshelf and take a look at it. Notice how the headers alternate between pages? Notice how the page numbers are spaced? Notice the different fonts used? Notice how chapter pages lack both page numbers and headers? Notice that nifty extra-large capital letter at the beginning of the first chapter paragraph? These are just a few of the things that need to be set up during the layout stage of book design.

As a self-publisher you are already fighting an uphill battle. Though your book might be the next Twilight or Mockingjay, it will already start off with a stigma because you self-published it. Things are changing in the publishing world self-publishing or Indie publishing are becoming much more mainstream, however they still have not garnered the prestige of their traditionally published counterparts. What that means for you, the self-published author, is that you must do that much more to make sure your book is indistinguishable, in quality, from others on the bookshelf.

To really nail down what your book should look like inside, you need to look at its peers. Take 10 or so traditionally published books from your genre and go through them with a fine tooth comb. Note the standards in their layout so you can try to mimic them.

So, now that you know what a book should look like, how do you recreate it?

On paper it sounds pretty easy. Change a few fonts here, create some page breaks there, and add in a few page numbers the poof, a bright shiny new book!

Once you actually try to duplicate what you see in printed books, you find out how difficult it can be.

While word is great for general word processing, it can be very difficult to use when formatting books. Trying to get page numbers to show up on some pages but not others will provide a bit of a challenge. Same goes for alternating headers that only appear within chapters but not on title pages, acknowledgement pages, about the author pages, or copyright pages. Drop Caps doesn’t ever work as it was intended and usually adds extra spacing to your lines. In short, it creates a lot of headaches.

Even though it is a headache, book layout can be done in word. It is, however, going to be a frustrating and time consuming process. Be prepared for long hours. For the do-it-yourself publisher, this is going to be your cheapest option.

There are some other alternatives if you just don’t want to deal with the added stress. For those choosing to use a service, I believe Lulu, CreateSpace, and many others offer layout and design as part of their packages. You can also hire out for this too. There are many companies out there who specialize in layout (This will cost you some money. Around $200-$400).

There are also many programs the pro’s use (Quark and InDesign come to mind). They are available for anyone to purchase and use but they will cost you a pretty penny. I was lucky enough to stumble across a program that works within Word. I found it on Self-pub.net and it was quite helpful and only cost around $40.

http://www.self-pub.net
Book Design Wizard 2.0
What this program does is standardize things for you via VBA coded templates. You answer some questions about your book and plug in your layout desires, (e.g. what fonts to use for chapter headings, title pages, etc…) and it creates a template for you to work within.

I found it to be extremely helpful. It still took me about three days to get the book layout exactly as I wanted it. For the do-it-yourselfer, this is probably the best happy medium you will find.

I’m sure this is not the only program of its kind out there, do a Google search for book layout templates and programs. If you don’t like this on, you can probably find plenty to suit your needs.



Jamie DeBree
formatting for print (overview)

Formatting the print version is the most daunting thing I faced when I decided to self-publish Tempest. I was fairly certain I could do okay with the ebook, but print is a whole 'nuther thing. With print, you have to worry about margins, typeface, widows & orphans (which honestly, I didn't), spacing of letters, chapter headings, page headers, and all within the context of the size of book you want to print. And that's not counting the cover formatting. I know it's all overwhelming – believe me, I looked at it and asked, "why am I doing this again?" But when you get right down to it, the hardest thing is changing straight quotes (like you see in this blog) to curly quotes (pick up your favorite book). Everything else is fairly easy once you make friends with the formatting tags in your favorite word processor.

I should point out that you don't have to do this yourself. You can pay someone to format your book for a hundred dollars or so (which, if you really don't have time or want to mess with it, is a reasonable price). But the less you spend at the outset, the more money goes into your pocket from sales, so I'd urge you to at least give it a try first. Like most things, it looks a whole lot harder from the outside than it really is.

I have a wonderful cover artist – Heidi Sutherlin of Creative Pursuits – who does all my covers and artwork for me. So for my cover, I just had to give her a copy of the book, character descriptions, a back cover blurb and the template for the cover. CreateSpace (which is the only print-on-demand company I have experience with) provides a cover template when you put in the number of pages, width and height of your book. I sent that to Heidi, and she turned it into art. Just like magic.

For the interior formatting, I did a search of the CreateSpace community forums, and found that someone was offering CS members free templates and an abbreviated formatting guide. The formatting guide was only semi-useful to me because I'm just not all that familiar with the ins and outs of word processing programs. The template was my savior though – I turned on the formatting guides (all those little symbols that tell you where paragraphs and line breaks are), and basically just cut and pasted each chapter of Tempest into the template. The margins must be set to mirrored, and you'll want to play with the headers for page numbers, title and name. I kept things very simple – no fancy fonts (I used Times New Roman, which is the mark of an amateur or so I'm told, but I prefer it to most fonts I see), just basic italics, single line spacing, and first line indents (use the ruler bar to set indents – don't use tabs). Personally, I kept it very basic, and aside from my little chapter-flipping incident, it worked pretty well. Do a search for book formatting, and book formatting templates, and I'm sure you'll find what you need. I'm not linking to the one I used simply because it was/is meant for CS members – but if you go search that community, you'll find it. I don't think it would hurt to do some playing with whatever word processing program you have too (I use Open Office for final formatting). That's really what took me the longest – just finding my way around my own program.

It also took me nearly an entire day to switch my straight quotes to curly quotes. The instructions are all over the internet, and they all sound super-easy. They're a pain in the butt. My advice here would be to do everything else first, then make a copy of your file to use for your ebooks before you switch the quotes. On Smashwords, straight quotes convert better – the curlies will show up on the newer ereaders and programs, but they return to code on older models. It's not pretty. Just say no to curly quotes on Smashwords.

One thing I did do, and not just because Tempest is a novella - I used a full 12 point font. I figure people buying print will appreciate a slightly larger than normal font to make reading easier on the eyes. I don't think I'd go larger than that, but I do like the way it looks on the page. Most print on demand trade paperbacks will be at least a little larger than the average mass market paperback, which makes it easier to get away with large fonts not actually looking "large".

You'll also need to add "front matter" – title page, copyright page, acknowledgments and dedication if you have one. In the back, don't forget an author bio with contact information, and a blurb for your next book. Maybe even an excerpt to get people hooked early? Don't beat yourself up worrying about how these are formatted. Just do what I did - go grab a book in your genre off the shelf, and copy the format as you're creating your own pages. Simple as that.

CS accepts only PDF files for uploading, so your final cover art and interior files will both need to be in that format. Open Office has a pdf creator included, or you can do a web search for "convert to pdf" and find a ton of free utilities. Once you have your two files ready, you upload them and wait for CS to "approve" them, and then you can order your proof copy to check.

I had to fix my files after the first proof got here – and from what I hear, that's not uncommon. So be prepared for the book not to come out perfect the first time...at least not on the first one you do. If you're impatient or in a hurry (like I was), it will cost you. My book at cost is around $3.00 – but I paid $30 for each proof copy to have it shipped 2 day air. This is one of the reasons I recommend you give yourself a month to 6 weeks for producing a print copy. Buy yourself some breathing room for the less expensive shipping options for proof and sales copies.

And that's it. I apologize for not adding more links, but the information is all over in many different forms, and what appeals to me as far as instructions go may well not appeal to you. Google is your friend. A little research goes a long way with formatting guides and templates. You can always ask a friend too – most indie authors are more than happy to help when they can.

And as I said before, if you don't have time, or just don't want to tackle it – hire someone. The whole "money always flows toward the author" thing is silly when you think of it in light of a business. Every business requires some initial cash outlay, and writing is no different. In traditional publishing, the author pays for it by taking only a percentage of the profits, and only after the advance pays out (if it does). In self-publishing, it's an up-front cost, rather than hidden. But it's there, either way, so don't shy away from hiring someone if you need to. It's a business decision, plain and simple.
____________________________

Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think Series

Do You Want to Jump the Fence? - August 26th
The Vase - September 1st
What Going Indie Will Cost You - September 8th
Whither The Author-Artiste? - September 9th 
Influences & Self-Publishing Might Just Stink For You - September 16th
The Absolute Nightmare (or not!) of Formatting a Print Book - September 22nd
Cheaper Than Kinko's - September 23rd 
Don't Listen to Me - September 30th

Influences & Self-Publishing Might Just Stink For You: Part 5 of Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think

I won't apologize for the length of these posts since I know several of our readers want all this information. But even if self-publishing doesn't interest you, you might find something interesting and worthwhile here.

I've been talking-up self-publishing quite a bit. It's kind of expected...since I self-published a book and I'm proud of it and I'm confident I can do it again. Two more times, actually. I'll be self-publishing two more fairy-tale themed novellas in the future.

Does my confidence and positivity mean you should self-publish a book?

That's an awfully personal question. I know many of our readers are not considering such a route, but some are, and it frightens me to think some of you are watching me like I'm a fish in a fishbowl because I'm doing this series. Some of you are trying to make the decision right now whether or not you should self-publish a book. Tara Maya, for instance, just made the huge decision to self-publish a short story anthology. I think she mentioned that I had some sort of influence on her...among others who also had an influence on me.

Influences.

I think one of the hardest things I've ever had to write was my Acknowledgements page. It was easy enough to write when I actually sat down to write it, but thinking about who I was going to personally name...that was difficult. Some names were obvious. Others became shrouded under the "friends and beta readers" title. The truth is, every writer's blog I've ever read, every writer who has given me advice, supported me, urged me to follow my dreams. I owe them all my thanks. When I wrote the page, I wasn't thinking specifically about self-publishing, but of writing in general. That's when specific names popped up first.

Here is where I'd like to talk about the few people who helped steer me (directly and indirectly) into the direction of self-publishing Cinders.

Katie Salidas

Katie probably doesn't know it, but I've watched her for awhile. Katie started her own publishing company name, Rising Sign Books LLC, and published her first book, Immortalis Carpe Noctem in March of this past year. As soon as I discovered Katie had self-published her book, I bought a copy. I had read some of her writing before and enjoyed it. I was really interested to see what her self-published book looked like. I had some exposure to self-published material before through Lulu (we did Genre Wars last year through Lulu), but Katie did things a bit differently. She hired a cover artist, layout designer, and editors. She then found a commercial printer for print runs of the book.

I was pleasantly surprised when I received Katie's book. She even had a bookmark with it. I loved the bookmark because I thought it was well-done and a great promotional item we could maybe consider for The Literary Lab anthologies one day.

Katie's book, although a vampire story (which I've tended to avoid lately...) was quite fun! My husband even snatched it away from me and read it, and the cover and formatting and printing were all high quality. I started to think...hmmm...self-publishing...

F.P. Adriani

F.P. has been a reader over here for quite awhile. I became a fan of F.P.'s as soon as I started reading her comments on some of our posts. Her insights and strong opinions about specific issues in publishing and life in general got me thinking deeply about more things. She got me thinking differently about almost everything publishing-related. I don't always agree with F.P., but I have definitely changed my mind about some things because of her, and self-publishing is one of those things.

I eventually bought one of F.P.'s self-published novels, Remember & Forget, and read it with great interest. My husband read that one, too, and enjoyed it. We talked for days about it, actually, about the issues it brought up and how they related to us personally. I read Katie's book and F.P.'s book at about the same time, and I was delighted to see that F.P.'s Lulu-quality book wasn't far behind the quality of Katie's commercial print-run book (in printing quality). I started to think again...hmmmm...self-publishing.

Probably one of the most influential things of all, however, was F.P.'s intense drive to put an emphasis on the quality of her work inside the book. This shows in her beautiful writing. F.P. has been self-publishing for 11 years (I hope I got that right, F.P.), and I was impressed with how confident she is with her work and how much she supported and helped me when I made the decision to self-publish. For some reason, before I met F.P., I had always thought that self-published writers went around with their heads hung in shame. So not true.

Davin Malasarn 

This might seem a given since I blog over here with Davin and I included his name in my Acknowledgements page, but I had to mention here that when Davin self-published a middle-grade novel he wrote just for his nephew, a light turned on in my head. I realized self-publishing can be the perfect solution for specific projects. I first started Cinders as a novella to include in a combined novella-project Davin and Scott and I have been discussing for awhile, but it soon became evident to me that Cinders was something I wanted to put out there on its own. As I watched Davin write and publish his novel for his nephew, I understood the significance of knowing the aim of your novel.

Zoe Winters

Zoe influenced me a little after I had already made the decision to self-publish, but what she did was give me an extra boost of confidence in my decision. Zoe is adamantly opposed to traditionally publishing her work and is constantly out in the blogosphere talking about her experiences with self-publishing. She has even made a series of YouTube videos about self-publishing you might want to watch. You can find them here on Zoe's Channel.

Zoe has been quite successful by way of sales, from what I understand, but in the end that doesn't matter to me as much as whether or not the writer is happy with what they've accomplished writing-wise, and Zoe is obviously happy and excited about her work as a whole. Her confidence was a real life-saver and good example at the very beginning of my Cinders release.


Self-Publishing Might Just Stink For You...or it Might Be Totally Awesome...

Yes, self-publishing might just stink for you. It might be a very bad decision for you. After speaking about influences, I hope that if I am an influence for you, I hope you also understand that I can't tell you if self-publishing would be right for you or not. I don't know. I honestly didn't know if it was a very good decision for me until I tried it. Even now, some of the cons for me are:

(1) The constant, ridiculous, and unnecessary but unavoidable worrying I do about what people think of me for self-publishing a book.

(2) The fact that if I do try and traditionally publish, the traditional publisher may look at my self-publishing numbers and factor that into their decision in a negative way.

(3) Putting more money into the project than I'm making in sales from the project. So far I haven't made back what I put into the project, but I do have confidence I'll make it back in the long run.

(4) The fear of regretting all of this later. Yeah, that's a real fear, but not one I can see happening. I'm proud of the work I've put out there, and just like anything else I have published, once it's out there it is permanent and I learn to accept it for what it is and where I was at that time as a writer.

Making the decision to self-publish is not something you should take lightly, in my opinion. I'm also of the thought that if you're going to do something, you should do it right. For me, that meant putting money and time and a lot of work into my project to get the final product I did. For you, that might mean something entirely different. In the end, I can't say if it would be awesome or stink for you, but I can at least answer these questions asked by my dear friend, Alicia:

So I am genuinely curious about something. After doing the math and seeing you can make a profit  in writing (however small or large), would you still go through it all again if you could only break even or have it cost more than you sold (a...ka take a loss)?

I remember you saying early on your only real goal was to get people reading what you wrote. Now that you are officially published and money is involved, is that still true? Would you be satisfied if you never made another penny from Cinders, or sold another copy, but people kept reading it? What about if no one read it again, would it still be a success?

There is, of course, no wrong answer. I just wonder if things have changed at all, since I haven't experienced publication as you are now.

 Yes, Yes, Yes, and Yes. 
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Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think Series

Do You Want to Jump the Fence? - August 26th
The Vase - September 1st
What Going Indie Will Cost You - September 8th
Whither The Author-Artiste? - September 9th 
Influences & Self-Publishing Might Just Stink For You - September 16th 
The Absolute Nightmare (or not!) of Formatting a Print Book - September 22n
Cheaper Than Kinko's - September 23rd 
Don't Listen to Me - September 30th

Whither The Author-Artiste? (Guest Post): Part 4 of Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think

I'd like to introduce a fabulous post I ran across a few weeks ago by self-publishing guru, April L. Hamilton. April has been kind enough to give me permission to re-post her words here. This post addresses a real issue. Those of us who appreciate literature at its finest should be aware of these issues and the possible solutions. Read on.
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Seth Godin's announcement yesterday that his future works will not be traditionally published seems, to me anyway, to have finally knocked over the "Tipping Point" domino in a chain that's long been poised to open the floodgates of true acceptance and respectability for indie authorship. For authors like Godin, JA Konrath, Steven Covey, and lesser-known indies like me, this is a wonderful development. It's a clear signal that going indie can be a big step in the right direction for any author, established or aspiring, who's got an entrepreneurial spirit and commercial sensibilities. But what about all those other authors, published and aspiring, who are more in tune with art than commerce? How would a Flannery O'Connor, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Camus, Dostoevsky or Salinger fare in this brave new world of indie authorship? Not too well, I suspect.

These are authors of seminal literature which has inspired whole generations of writers, thinkers and artists, and their works will continue to inspire thought and action for generations to come. Yet somehow I doubt any of them would've been very excited about, or done very well with, something as worldly and mundane as author platform. And this begs the question: where, and how, is the important and challenging literature of tomorrow to be discovered and brought to the public's attention? Will it be lost to the ages for want of a Twitter account and Amazon Rush?

I'm not saying the rise of indie authorship has somehow created this problem. If anything, indie authorship has opened a door of opportunity for those few authors of literary fiction and philosophical or metaphysical nonfiction who are also web savvy and/or highly motivated to get their work out to the world. After all, it's not as if mainstream presses have been clamoring for more edgy, unclassifiable, non-commercial manuscripts. Trade publishing in the United States hasn't been primarily about enlarging the canon of quality American literature for quite some time.

While there have always been passionate and compassionate editors, agents and others willing to champion this or that "great" book, regardless of its apparent commercial potential, these have increasingly been diminished to the role of mere voices in the wilderness. Because the publishing business is, first and foremost, a business, and there's nothing wrong, illegal, or unethical about that. A book that doesn't look like a substantial moneymaker isn't likely to be picked up by a big, mainstream house. Small, independent presses can bridge the gap between art and commerce to some extent, but those presses have to turn a profit to survive too. Great reviews and a slew of doctoral theses based on a given book won't pay the rent.

I've turned this over in my head again and again, but there are no easy answers. Plenty of people have gone through the exercise of sending some literary classic or other to a mainstream house or agent under a different title just to get it rejected and then knowingly blog about the generalized cluelessness of trade publishing (and in so doing, entirely overlook the fact that publishers are engaged in a for-profit business), but this exercise barely pays lip service to the larger issue. If we agree as a culture that important, if non-commercial, literature deserves wide exposure, study and discussion, who's supposed to foot the bill for getting it out there in front of eyeballs?

Indie authors like me who've worked long and hard to master platform and publishing skills may feel some righteous indignation at the notion of our artier, less business-savvy counterparts getting somewhat of a free ride when it comes to the labor involved in indie authorship, but we should try to get past this tit-for-tat mentality and look at the big picture. I know all kinds of things about self-publishing, trade publishing, setting up and maintaining an author platform, and the business side of indie authorship, and I'm a pretty good writer of entertaining little novels and instructional nonfiction, too. But I'm no Salinger, O'Connor, Dostoevsky, Garcia Marquez or Camus, and I never will be.

Is it better for the culture at large if the only new authors to achieve any meaningful level of exposure or acclaim are like me, succeeding largely for reasons having at least as much (if not more) to do with our business and marketing skills than our writerly gifts? I'm thinking, no. I have come up with some ideas to address the problem, but it's a woefully short list. Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments area.

1. Introductory self-publishing, author platform and publishing business courses should be added to the core curriculum of all creative writing degree programs; many students in such programs may have no intention of ever self-publishing, but these subject areas are so commonplace in the publishing world of today that to be ignorant of them is indicative of an incomplete education.

2. The National Endowment for the Arts has grants on offer each year, but admittedly, they're limited to pretty specific categories and putting together an acceptable grant proposal is scarcely easier than setting up and maintaining an author blog and Twitter account.

3. Anyone who's mastered a crucial publishing or author platform skill like podcasting, ebook creation, book cover design or the like should share the wealth of those skills by providing some free instruction to their fellow writers in the form of how-to videos, articles, or podcasts.

4. Any author or publishing pro who's in a position to give wider exposure to a deserving non-commercial manuscript, book or story should do whatever they can to lend a hand to the writer in need.

Remember: it was probably some classic of literature, not a NY Times Bestseller, that originally inspired you to become a writer in the first place. Let's all do what we can to give that same gift of meaning and inspiration to future generations of writers, thinkers and artists everywhere
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April L. Hamilton is an author, blogger, Technorati BlogCritic, and a leading advocate and speaker for the indie author movement. She’s also the founder and Editor in Chief of Publetariat, the premier online news hub and community for indie authors and small imprints, and offers professional services to indie authors. She’s a frequent conference speaker on subjects related to self-publishing, and judge for self-published book competitions. In her popular self-published reference book, The IndieAuthor Guide, to be released in an updated and revised edition from Writer’s Digest Books in December of this year, she offers aspiring self-published authors a roadmap to success.

This post originally appeared on April's blog, Indie Author.
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Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think Series

Do You Want to Jump the Fence? - August 26th
The Vase - September 1st
What Going Indie Will Cost You - September 8th
Whither The Author-Artiste? - September 9th 
Influences & Self-Publishing Might Just Stink For You - September 16th 
The Absolute Nightmare (or not!) of Formatting a Print Book - September 22nd
Cheaper Than Kinko's - September 23rd 
Don't Listen to Me - September 30th

What Going Indie Will Cost You: Part 3 of Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think

I've had many people ask me what everything costs when one decides to self-publish, and sadly there is no straightforward answer. Instead of trying to estimate what someone might spend on self-publishing a book, I'll tell you my own experience.

First of all, let's straighten out one thing: I am not considering any of the packages you can buy to self-publish your book - the ones that cost thousands of dollars and provide a cover artist, editor, marketer, etc. That's a great way to go if you want, but for me, it was pretty much taking all the self out of self-publishing. So everything I talk about below pertains to doing everything yourself, including hiring out artists and editors if needed.

Some of you might laugh at these numbers, but they are what they are and I'm happy to share them so you have a realistic expectation of self-publishing. You might spend more. You might spend less. Everyone and every project is different! I know some of my fellow Indie writers have sold more copies than myself, and some have sold less. It makes me happy to see that everyone is different and that it is truly up to the writer's own devices on what they sell, how they sell it, and how well it does.

*First, I used CreateSpace, a Print-On-Demand publisher (POD). Print-On-Demand simply means that the publisher, like CreateSpace, doesn't print and ship your book until someone purchases it. This literally means the book costs you nothing out-of-pocket - you and the publisher make a profit off each sale. Self-publishing with a small press costs MUCH more because you must pay for all of your print copies up front and then sell them. POD publishing is taking off, and there's a good reason why!

TOTAL SALES (first 6 weeks): 151 copies

TOTAL REVENUE (first 6 weeks): $1,066.47

TOTAL SPENT (first 6 weeks): $1,240.92

TOTAL LEFT TO EARN BEFORE I START MAKING MONEY....: $174.45

Now, you must understand these numbers keep changing. The total I spend changes every time I pay postage on signed books I send out, and that will change the amount I have left to earn. But I do think that as time goes by, the gap between the two will get larger and larger until my revenue is much higher than what I spent on the book.

Here's a breakdown of the costs for you:

COVER: $217.35
(This is the cost of stock photography for the background, as well as the cost of the dress I had custom made, and props. I did not have to pay the model or the seamstress for the dress - only for materials. Because of the kindness of others volunteering their time and talents, this cut down on costs)

POSTAGE: $267.26
(Shipping overseas can get expensive, but most of this was paid by the customers, so it was not directly coming out of my pocket. This also includes shipping materials - bubble mailers and labels, etc.)

ADVERTISING: $151.22
(This includes giveaway items and advertising on Facebook)

BOOKS: $446.50
(These are physical copies I've sold by hand or by mail, as well as free copies for reviews and giveaways. Consequently, I make the most profit, even with double-shipping, to sell copies by hand, but over half of my sales are ebooks and books sold through Amazon, so I make a different profit off each kind of sale)

EDITORIAL SERVICES: Free
(This is usually not wise, I'll admit, but I happen to know some amazing people)

SWAG: $85.47
(This includes bookmarks and business cards...hint: Vistaprint.com does practically FREE business cards...)
 

RELEASE PARTY: $34.12
(All I paid for was food at Costco. Talk about simple)

PUBLISHING (CREATESPACE): $39.00
(Yes, that's right. $39.00 to publish my book. Everything else up above was completely unnecessary. I could have paid this $39.00 and that was it. Oh, and you can choose not to pay $39.00 if you want. It gets you the Expanded Distribution Channel service through Amazon. I'll discuss this later)

Now, that being all said, let's look over some things. If you wanted to self-publish and completely forgo print copies - selling only ebooks, you'd cut down on a lot of cost. Even if you sell print copies, you do not have to sell them by hand as I have done for some of my sales. You can simply sell them through Amazon or CreateSpace or Lulu or whatever print-on-demand publisher you've used.

So, now that I've shared all of that lovely information with you (it's unnerving to share all this, by the way), I'll give you an idea of what you should spend money on if you decide to self-publish.

Quite honestly, you can self-publish your book COMPLETELY FREE. A lot of people do this. I don't think it's very smart to do that, but that's just my opinion. Publishing a book is a huge deal, and you should treat it as such. If you are uncomfortable pouring some money into your work, you probably shouldn't be self-publishing.

If you are going to self-publish, you should absolutely, most definitely spend your money on at least these things:

*update - someone whom I respect as a self-published author, made it clear to me that perhaps I shouldn't imply that you HAVE to do these things. She is 100% right. You really don't have to do these things, but in my opinion, doing these things may help your chances at getting your book more noticed. Just my opinion. As this person always says, and I agree with her 100%, the QUALITY of the book INSIDE is what matters!!! Therefore, I do think getting a good editor is important, or at least making sure your work truly is ready to put out there.

BOOK COVER
Either pay a designer or buy stock photography or something to make your cover look professional. If you can't make it look professional yourself, hire someone. Your cover says a lot about how you feel about your work. Readers pick up on that in about 5-billionths of a second. You have about 5-billionths of a second to make a reader go "Oh, I want to read that book!" or "Oh, I hate that cover. It looks amateur, so the book is probably amateur." However untrue that may be, it's sadly true in this day and age.

EDITING
Do not underestimate this. This might be where you spend most of your money, actually. Unless you seriously know what you're doing or you know someone you completely trust to edit your work, hire an editor.

ADVERTISING
Do not underestimate the power of social networking! This can cost money when you start to advertise your book. There are reviewers you can pay to review your book. You can advertise on Facebook for relatively cheap. You'll want to do giveaways. You'll probably want bookmarks and business cards if you're sending out print copies of your book.

If you're self-publishing, the most important thing is to be professional. Professionals advertise. Advertising is how you sell copies. It's probably going to cost you some money.
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Here are some fantastic links you should check out:

SELF-PUBLISHING: Maybe You're Not So Vain After All? by Anne R. Allen

The Indie Author Revolution by Seth Mullins

ISBNs Don't Matter As Much As You Probably Think They Do, But You Might Want To Start Owning Your Own Anyway by April Hamilton

Kindle Author Interview: Mary McDonald on Kindle Author

Will Self-Publishing Make You Die? by Livia Blackburne 

CreateSpace Self Publishing, Create Space Book Photos by Lisa Shea

8 Reasons Self-Publishing is Entering a Golden Age by Joel Friedlander 

Empty Validation by Zoe Winters 

Vanity Press Goes Digital by Geoffrey A. Fowler and Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg

 Jamie DeBree has been kind enough to share the following here. This post is originally found on her author site, here. Jamie is the author of the recently released romance novella, Tempest.

Self-Publishing: Be Prepared 
by Jamie DeBree

I made a lot of mistakes when I decided to self-publish Tempest. Mostly because rather than researching the heck out of how to do it first (like I do with most things), I just decided to jump in with both feet and pick it up as I go. I didn't do too badly, but there are still some things that would have gone much more smoothly had I thought them out ahead of time.

Don't set a public release date until you have finished revising/editing your work. My reason for doing this was to set a very public deadline and force myself to get the work done. It worked great to motivate me, and if I'd only done an ebook as originally planned, it would have been fine. Unfortunately, deciding to add a print copy set my delivery time line back – which leads to the next thing I should have done early...

Decide early what formats you're going to publish in. I originally planned to release Tempest only in ebook format. Then I discovered that the majority of my regular readers still prefer print books. Because those are the people most likely to help me get the word out, I impulsively decided to release print copies as well. It turns out that print takes a lot longer to format and get approved/ordered – so if you want to do a print release, plan well in advance. Give yourself a month to six weeks to format, upload, fix any issues, and order proof and sales copies when dealing with print publishing. Ebook publishing goes far more quickly – you can format and upload an ebook in less than a week. 

Double-check your formatting and proofreading. My biggest mistake was switching the order of two chapters when I formatted Tempest for print, and then copying that error across all of my ebook formats. I caught it before the final print copy, but not before several e-copies had already sold. My plan for next time is to format and order a proof of the print copy first, read that carefully to mark and fix any mistakes, and then use that file as the basis for my ebook copies. I'm confident that will catch the majority of mistakes and make for a much cleaner release next time. 

Order any print copies you plan to sell from your home at least one week ahead of the release date. My readers have been very patient in waiting for print copies to get here for signatures, but it's been a long wait. 

Don't forget the small stuff. I really dropped the ball on this one. The print copy has a dedication in it, but I forgot to add it into the ebook copies altogether until I had to redo them because of the chapter switch. I'm still not entirely sure it made it into all copies. I completely dropped the ball on acknowledgments, though I did remember to give credit to my editor and cover artist. These are things that will be far better thought out and included as a matter of course in later works. 

Be proactive getting review copies out. I offered 20 ebooks free for review, and had only one person accept it. Later, I heard that a lot of people simply hadn't been aware of the offer – it was listed on my web site and I mentioned it a few times, but I should have made a bigger point of getting the word out. I think doing that would have been very helpful in getting more initial reviews, so I'll be doing more of that next time, for sure. 

I think those were my biggest mistakes for my first self-publishing experience, and hopefully my sharing them will help someone else not to make the same ones.
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I have really enjoyed my experience so far with self-publishing. It has been fun and exciting, but a lot of work. I'm pretty sure I'd like to try and publish through a small publisher, as well, and I'm not sure an agent or a large publisher are good options for me. I have the resources, talents, and drive for self-publishing. You might, too, but be honest with yourself before you jump in.

What is the bottom line here? Mostly likely, self-publishing is going to cost you money, time, heartache, and a lot of patience and determination. And most likely, you're not going to make a lot of money off self-publishing. AT FIRST... 

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Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think Series

Do You Want to Jump the Fence? - August 26th
The Vase - September 1st
What Going Indie Will Cost You - September 8th
Whither The Author-Artiste? - September 9th 
Influences & Self-Publishing Might Just Stink For You - September 16th 
The Absolute Nightmare (or not!) of Formatting a Print Book - September 22nd
Cheaper Than Kinko's - September 23rd 
Don't Listen to Me - September 30th

The Vase: Part 2 of Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think

The vase was beautiful. He'd spent years studying under the masters and now he had finally created his own that was worthy enough to display in the public square. It would sell immediately, he was sure of it, but when he got to the square other vases sold before his and nobody paid attention to his vase. It was just as good as the others. He was sure it was better. Why weren't they looking at it? He waited all day, but the vase didn't sell or attract any amount of attention.

He went to his masters and asked them what he'd done wrong, and they inspected the vase and told him he'd done nothing wrong. Keep trying to sell it, they told him. You've accomplished something great. Be proud. So he went to the public square again, his hopes higher than before. This time he announced loudly that his vase had the master stamp of approval. A few people turned their heads, but nobody bought the vase that day, either.

He went home, completely dejected. That night his friend knocked on the door, a huge grin on her face. She had sold her vase, she beamed. Didn't he see it? Didn't he see people flocking to her work? The man stepped back and shook his head. He hadn't noticed anyone looking at her work. He had been too focused on his own. Something started to gnaw at his heart. Something green with sharp razor teeth. He was truly happy for his friend because he knew she had worked very hard to get to where she was, but eventually the razor teeth bit him so hard that he told his friend to get out. He slammed the door. How was that fair? His friend hadn't studied under the masters. What made her work so much better?

The next day he didn't take his vase to the public square. He sat at his table and stared at the vase. He began to see flaws in the workmanship. He began to see what he could have done better, and in a fit of rage he lifted the vase and threw it to the floor where it shattered. He marched to the master's quarters and asked them why they had lied to him. His face was red and hot.

The masters looked at him and smiled. We didn't lie to you, they said softly. You did accomplish something great. Keep trying to sell your vase. Every vase is unique. There will always be flaws. Accept them.

But what about my friend? How is it that she sold her vase and I could not?

Do you feel you want to be her because of that?

No, well…maybe. Okay, yes. I want recognition. I want to create a vase people will buy. Like hers. But…and he thought very hard before he spoke to the wise masters…I want mine to be even better because she did not study under you. Hers cannot possibly be better than mine. It must be a fluke that others are acknowledging her work.

No, it is not a fluke.

Then what is wrong with mine? He turned away and thought of telling the masters how he had smashed his vase, but decided against it.

We told you already: nothing is wrong with yours. Keep working, but perhaps since you have not had luck with your current work you should try a vase in which you branch away from what we have taught you. We masters do not know everything. Customers sometimes tire of what our students put forth – not that it is of any less value – but we notice some of our students relying solely on what we have taught them and what they think others want instead of what they want themselves.Their true talent shrivels under this system.  

He stood still for a moment, struck with the weight of the masters’ words. He thought of the shattered remains of his vase still on his floor and then bid goodbye to go sweep up the mess he had made. But, he thought, perhaps it wasn't a mess after all.
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I hesitated to share this story with you. I don't want to dissect it and tell you what I meant everything to stand for because I think there are multiple layers and meaning that will work for each person depending on their situation.

One thing I'd like to say is in the years I have been writing and learning about publishing, I've learned two very important things: (1) Most writers would never write if they had no one with whom to share their work - publishing allows us this, and there are many ways to publish. No one method is inherently better than another, but other methods allow us to share with wider audiences. Wider audiences, however, do not necessarily mean better reception nor better quality of the work nor more happiness for the writer when all is said and done. This is different for everyone. (2) The method you choose will most likely change your end product.
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Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think Series

Do You Want to Jump the Fence? - August 26th
The Vase - September 1st
What Going Indie Will Cost You - September 8th
Whither The Author-Artiste? - September 9th 
Influences & Self-Publishing Might Just Stink For You - September 16th 
The Absolute Nightmare (or not!) of Formatting a Print Book - September 22nd
Cheaper Than Kinko's - September 23rd 
Don't Listen to Me - September 30th

Do You Want to Jump the Fence?: Part 1 of Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think

Fences. In writing there may be no fences, but in publishing, there is no mistaking their presence. Fences and gates. Think of it this way: two corrals leading to the same pristine, beautiful pasture. The corrals are exactly the same. And, let me state this again: they lead to the exact same pasture.

Today I’m talking about a very sticky subject, one that I’ve seen people arguing about quite passionately. I’m not here to say that self-publishing is better than traditional publishing or the other way around. I do not feel in any way that one could possibly be any better than the other. Want to know why? Because, once again, they lead to the exact same pasture. The only difference is how you get there. Some might argue that the pasture is different, that self-publishing isn’t publishing at all, but I’ll tell you what - getting your work out there for sale, marketing it, seeing people read it, rate it, love it, hate it, talk about it - that’s publishing. If you deny that, you’re on some sort of crack.Traditional. Self. I'd like to try both, thank you very much. The beautiful thing is that I can.

And let’s get this out of the way up front: both traditional and self-publishing are capable of putting out a piece of crap.

Traditional publishing is often looked at as a filter for the written word. You have to get “approved,” in a way, before your work is put out there. Someone has to UNLOCK that gate leading to the coveted pasture. This is the best way for many writers, and I can understand why.

Self-publishing is often looked at as cheating, and that cheating can produce some really bad stuff because it didn’t go through the filter. Nobody unlocked the gate. The writer just opened it and went through. That might seem unfair to those still waiting for their gate to be unlocked, or they might look at it as completely stupid to open the gate yourself, especially if the writer isn't ready. Either, way, negative feelings often happen because of it.

I’ve seen all this happening for a long time. I started writing a novella last November and decided that I wanted to self-publish it NOT because I didn’t think I could sell it traditionally, NOT because I didn’t think it wasn’t good enough for traditional publishing, NOT because I had given up on traditional publishing. I decided to self-publish it because I wanted to get it out there, because I knew it was the best damn thing I’d written to date, and because I knew I was finally ready to put my work out there. But possibly the largest driving force behind my decision was because of this very blog. You, our lovely readers, have often asked about self-publishing. I’ve seen negativity. I’ve seen frustration. I’ve seen confusion. I wanted to figure out why. I wanted to do it myself and see what it was all about and if I could do it in a way that expelled some of the terrible stigmas out there.

This series of posts - Why Self-Publishing is Better Than You Think - is going to be about my experience so far with self-publishing. It’s more than about self-publishing, as well. It’s about an experience that has literally changed my life.

I have jumped the fence to a different corral.

I know what it’s like over here, and I want to tell you about it.

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Join me for this series! I'll be talking about getting hurt, making hard decisions, the technicalities of producing a professional self-published work (formatting, cover art, editing, etc,), and numbers and sales. All I ask is that you keep an open mind and that if you have something to say that goes against what I say or what others say in the comments section, say it nicely and be courteous. Differing opinions and open discussion are always welcome here.
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Why Self-Publishing Is Better Than You Think Series

Do You Want to Jump the Fence? - August 26th
The Vase - September 1st
What Going Indie Will Cost You - September 8th
Whither The Author-Artiste? - September 9th 
Influences & Self-Publishing Might Just Stink For You - September 16th 
The Absolute Nightmare (or not!) of Formatting a Print Book - September 22nd
Cheaper Than Kinko's - September 23rd 
Don't Listen to Me - September 30th